Testimonials-Courses
What People Are Saying About PassageWorks Courses
A weekend spent at PassageWorks is a retreat that is rejuvenating on a personal level as well as a professional one. The work is multilayered and applicable to all people, all ages, etc. There is no greater learning then connecting with self and others, everything else should take a back seat, and this workshop is the beginning of getting that education in schools everywhere.
-Elementary School Teacher
Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, I can’t tell where PassageWorks ends and the regular curriculum begins. Everything I teach touches on the social and emotional well-being of my students. The integration has become automatic. If teachers could only understand how this opens an entire world with students, I think they’d be flocking to try what you teach.
-Colleen Conrad, 8th Grade English Teacher
This workshop has changed the way I teach completely. Nothing I have ever studied has made such an impact on what I do in my classroom. I will never be the same as a teacher now that I have started integrating these principles into my work. I am grateful that you have shown me there is a better way to relate to kids and to have an impact on the lives of my students.
-High School English Teacher
I began the Foundation Course training day tired, emotionally stressed, drained and not wanting to participate. As the material was presented, I began to relax, and listen with such awe… by the end of the day I was so very excited! THIS is what it is all about: connecting and relationships! Feeling a part of someone and something. It was invigorating. I wanted to find a way for students, my teachers, friends, and family to feel this connection. I began to listen more to my heart, mind, and soul. I began to make changes in my life– changes that have had a positive impact on family, my students, faculty, friends, and myself.
-Melissa Heath, Principal Doyle Elementary School, East Prairie, MO
I have been a very good teacher for 37 years. After the experience of PassageWorks [training], I came back to my classroom a different kind of teacher – one that was able to open her heart in a very different way to her students… a teacher who understood the importance of silence and joy in the classroom. I became a teacher who formed deeper connections with her students than she had ever formed before. These are only a few of the many ways that my life as a teacher was changed.
-Susie Chalom, Executive Director, Talmud Torah, Minneapolis
I want to connect to kids and not just be an information source. The skills I got from the training are a good introduction to what I will need to do to make this a reality. My hope is that I will begin to rekindle some of the flame that I had when I began my career.
-High School teacher
This course was so organized, intentional, useful! It will change at least your professional/teaching life—and probably your whole life!
-Julie Bishop, Instructional Coach
I was pleasantly surprised that I was so interested in the work. I have (get) to be involved in a lot of trainings and seminars and this was the first one, in my entire career, that I went home thinking, ‘I can’t wait to return the second day’! It was thoughtful, well prepared and very fun!
-High School Administrator
The principles and practices in PassageWorks are not just applicable to teaching, but they apply in all areas of life: How do I keep an open heart in relationships, and how does that touch the hearts of those around me? How can I learn to put distractions aside and become fully present in my interactions with others? How do I allow myself and others to voice life’s big questions when I have no answers? How do I learn to sit quietly with myself and listen? PassageWorks has relevance to me as a parent, a friend, a wife, a daughter, and a human being; and as a teacher as well.
-Lorri Fowler, Poudre High School Teacher and Site Coordinator
You have provided us with a multitude of tools to utilize throughout my whole career
-Teacher, Jefferson County Open School
Faith, inspiration, rejuvenation and connection!
-Gina Ballesteros-Maculuso, Spanish Teacher
All three facilitators [at the Foundation Course] did a fantastic job directing the flow, teaching the model, and being human. I know that I’ve never been to any other teacher kind of workshop that felt so real and honest.
-Kerry Geary, Foundation Course Participant
So much of what you bring gets right to my teaching gut. It is what I believe I should do and how I should focus my work, and so often I have allowed what I perceive to be other priorities to get in the way. So, a lot of renewal happened here for me. Thanks!
- Poudre High School teacher